Pax-salon Mailing List: Fwd: Massive flooding feared in new dam plan WFP 9/19/04 (conversational salon)

[patty guerrero (pattypax]

Hi folks, I just received this on my email and since it is all about
what I sent you last week ab. the movie being made and asking you for
help in putting it out I thought I would just send it along so you
could read what is happening.  so awful.  thanks, patty (Mad Hatter's
Tea House Conversational Salons)

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Janet Anderson <blackspruce [at] tcinternet.net>
> Date: Tue Sep 21, 2004  10:31:23 AM US/Central
> To: Janet Anderson <blackspruce [at] tcinternet.net>
> Subject: Massive flooding feared in new dam plan  WFP 9/19/04
>
>
> Winnipeg Free Press
> Sun Sep 19 2004
> By Helen Fallding
>
> NEGOTIATIONS are quietly proceeding in Northern Manitoba on
> a proposed hydro dam that will make the environmental
> kerfuffle over Wuskwatim seem like a minor spat. Many
> Manitobans have never heard of Keeyask, but it would flood
> 100 times as much land as the Wuskwatim dam that could start
> construction this winter and almost 10 times as much as the
> proposed Conawapa mega-project. The Keeyask dam at Gull
> Rapids on the Nelson River could destroy a sturgeon
> population, flood burial grounds, force trappers to relocate
> and contaminate fish with mercury. It would require a new
> high-voltage power line to Winnipeg that would involve
> clearing a wide swath of forest at least 800 kilometres long
> -- potentially disrupting sensitive caribou and slicing
> through a proposed world heritage site.
> Those kinds of hydro-related environmental problems have not
> been seen on any significant scale in Northern Manitoba
> since the 1970s. Many communities affected by those earlier
> projects are still reeling from the impact.
>
>
> Four First Nations are in talks with Manitoba Hydro over
> possible partnerships on the 620-megawatt project, which
> will generate three times as much power as the Wuskwatim
> project, but only half the power of Conawapa. The bigger dam
> on the lower Nelson River is dependent on a major power sale
> to Ontario and federal agreement to cost-share a separate
> transmission line.
>
> The Tataskweyak Cree Nation based at Split Lake -- the First
> Nation most affected by Keeyask and the one that could kill
> it in an upcoming referendum -- hopes to complete
> negotiations with Manitoba Hydro by the end of the year.
>
> A referendum on whether to go ahead with the project about
> 170 kilometres northeast of Thompson could come as soon as
> the spring, according to Tataskweyak's negotiator Victor
> Spence. He said it will be a tough decision for his people.
>
> "It's not easy when you're an aboriginal person dealing with
> something like flooding land."
>
> But he said the community has no economic base without
> hydro. The Keeyask project could provide about 200 jobs a
> year for Cree people during construction and about $16
> million a year in profits for Tataskweyak 15 years later.
>
> "David Suzuki doesn't feed my people," Spence said,
> referring to the outspoken environmental advocate.
>
> Winnipeg-based environmentalists are well aware that the
> Keeyask proposal is on the horizon. It's one of the main
> reasons they fought so hard against the Wuskwatim dam,
> fearing it would set dangerous precedents that would smooth
> the way for the more environmentally damaging Keeyask plan.
>
> A Clean Environment Commission hearing like the fiery one
> this spring for the controversial Wuskwatim dam would have
> to be held next year or early 2006 if Manitoba Hydro wants
> to meet its construction timeline. The utility hopes to
> start construction in 2006 and begin generating power in
> 2012 -- only two years behind Wuskwatim. The CEC plans to
> forward its recommendations on Wuskwatim to Conservation
> Minister Stan Struthers this week.
>
> Spence is trying to get the best deal he can after the
> Northern Flood Agreement committed Manitoba Hydro to
> consulting affected First Nations on new dams.
>
> The Nisichawayasihk Cree in Nelson House hope to buy up to a
> third of the Wuskwatim dam on the Burntwood River, but the
> four First Nations affected by Keeyask are hoping for a
> combined 25-per-cent share of the larger Keeyask dam.
>
> It is expected to cost $2.5 billion to build, plus more than
> $300 million for the transmission line.
>
> Tataskweyak Cree want to own 13 per cent of the dam, but
> financing arrangements offered by Manitoba Hydro would allow
> only half that if the First Nation invests $8 million of its
> own money, according to a local newsletter.
>
> "The chief and council have accordingly rejected the Hydro
> loan offer and have advised Hydro that a 6.5-per-cent
> ownership interest in Keeyask is not acceptable," it says.
>
> Keeyask would flood about 46 square kilometres of land.
> That's more than any hydro project since the 1970s, but a
> small area compared to more than 2,400 square kilometres of
> Northern Manitoba flooded up to and including that era.
>
> A committee in Split Lake believes the dam could wipe out
> the local sturgeon population that is just recovering from
> historic flooding, although scientific studies are not yet
> complete.
>
> Four groups of trappers would have to be compensated with
> money or access to trap lines in other parts of
> Tataskweyak's huge traditional territory. Elders and the
> Anglican church would be consulted on what to do about grave
> sites in the area to be flooded, Spence said.
>
> helen.fallding [at] freepress.mb.ca
>
>
>
>